Friday, December 5, 2008

The Inspiration and Truth of the Bible

This October, the world Synod of Bishops gathered to discuss the "Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church." The synod put forth 15 propositions at its conclusion (go here to read all 15).

It was pretty well known that there was some tension at the synod over differing views on the relationship between Biblical exegesis and Sacred Tradition (read about that here). Below is Proposition 12, and I have to say I find its wording ... interesting.

Proposition 12Inspiration and truth of the Bible

"The Synod proposes that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith clarify the concepts of inspiration and truth of the Bible, as well as their reciprocal relationship, in order to understand better the teaching of "Dei Verbum" 11. In particular, it is necessary to highlight the originality of the Catholic biblical hermeneutics in this field."

4 comments:

I may not be getting your point altogether, but I will say this. For me personally, having come into the Church only three short years ago, it was probably a blessing that I wasn't already in the business of reading and interpreting Scripture on my own. What a mess I would have made of it. Having the Magesterium, guided by the Holy Spirit, interpreting for me is necessary, so that I might avoid grave misunderstandings. I suspect that, on a grander scale, having 2,000 years of Magisterial interpretation before the "veil was lifted" on the Bible to us everyday armchair exegetes, was a good thing-- itself inspired by God.

Of course, Protestant criticism is that Catholics "weren't allowed" to read the Bible. I don't know the absolute truth of such an allegation. But, we can see the fruits of Protestant individualism in this regard: thousands of disparate denominations all claiming the truth, or worse yet all tacitly acknowledging that this is no Truth at all, apparently.

Well, hey. Don't I feel better about getting kicked out of RCIA now?! It was my bad attitude about "small group" (where the reading of the Gospel and "what is Jesus saying to you in this Gospel?" is the main subject) that contributed to my ouster and here, the BISHOPS of the CHURCH go and argue/discuss that very thing at this synod! Wonders never cease.